The present invention is generally directed to providing relief from carpal tunnel syndrome, tendinitis and other wrist and hand ailments and, more specifically, is directed to a treatment device for applying therapeutic massage and/or heat treatment.
Millions of workers find themselves experiencing hand and wrist pain on a frequent basis. Chronic pain can result in debilitating circumstances that drastically lower one's quality of life. Carpal tunnel syndrome and repetitive strain injury are two of the most common causes of chronic hand and wrist pain. Chronic pain can lead to depression, loss of livelihood, and scores of other secondary problems.
Many people try to use surgery to correct their carpal tunnel problems. However, most of those people still suffer, and have learned the hard way—after the physical toils and financial expense of surgery—that carpal tunnel is a problem with no easy surgical solution.
Originally, carpal tunnel was mainly experienced by elderly people who had worked hard their entire lives, and then retired to lower activity levels. In the mid 1950's, Doctor George Phalen coined the term “carpal tunnel” to describe their condition, which was thought to be a localized nerve injury at the hand and wrist. The paradigm concerning upper extremity nerve injury taught in medical schools was “all nerve problems in the upper extremities are carpal tunnel.” Since these patients had surgery and, because of sedentary lifestyles, died at a fairly young age, the incidence of returning pain symptoms was low and surgery appeared to be a suitable cure to carpal tunnel syndrome. Dr. Phalen did not envision that the straightforward problem he diagnosed and surgically treated would become as complex to treat as it has become today.
Today, carpal tunnel surgeries are often performed with minimal attempts being made to provide a complete pre-surgical diagnosis and to provide patient education to find non-surgical alternatives. Doctors rarely consider recommending activity and lifestyle modifications. Up to thirty percent of patients have recurrent or continued problems with pain and dysfunction after surgery, yet in spite of this, many feel they cannot improve because they have already had corrective surgery.
In the past, the belief that surgery is the best option was often unquestioned. Employers and insurance carriers wanted to believe that there is a quick fix to carpal tunnel and repetitive strain injury. Surgery was encouraged and patients were not told of the failure rates. Today, the recurrence of painful symptoms after undergoing carpal tunnel surgery is thought to be as high as thirty percent.
Many people who have had surgery continue to be symptomatic, but their complaints fall upon deaf ears. Most go back to their work activities and are warned not to complain anymore, or their jobs will be jeopardized. They are told the numbness, tingling and upper arm pain that they experience are to be expected and that “if you work hard, you are going to have some aches and pains.”
The concepts of repetitive strain injury, tendonitis and carpal tunnel are misunderstood by many physicians and therapists. With the lack of knowledge and understanding of nerve injuries that permeates the medical community, patients are left to deal with the consequences—the return of their daily pain. They fall through the cracks of a system devastatingly deficient in understanding and treating these diseases.
Clearly what is needed is a treatment device that provides a non surgical alternative to treating hand and wrist ailments; that is preferably capable of applying heat and massage action to the hand and/or wrist of a user; that preferably applies localized, area oscillating massage pressure to the hand and wrist of a user; and that is preferably relatively easy to use as a home treatment tool.